Murder accused claimed to be Aaron Smith's cousin - Tinder match

Grace Millane was murdered on the weekend of her 22nd birthday.
Grace Millane. Photo: Supplied
An Auckland woman has described the man accused of murdering Grace Millane as a "sociopath" after matching with him on Tinder for a sexual encounter.

She was one of three women to tell their story to the jury yesterday, which included the accused's supposed predilection for erotic asphyxiation, as the second week of the murder trial began yesterday.

Crown prosecutors allege that on the night of December 1 - the eve of Millane's 22nd birthday - the accused, 27, strangled the young Brit to death in his central city apartment after the pair spent the night drinking.

Millane's body was found crammed into a suitcase and dumped in a shallow grave in Auckland's Waitakere Ranges a week later.

'It still gives me chills'

During the woman's re-examination by Auckland's Crown Solicitor Brian Dickey she said the accused, whom she described as hysterical, had claimed he was All Black Aaron Smith's cousin.

"He told me he had spent the last All Blacks game watching with the wives and girlfriends.

"I thought it was just odd."

She said the accused - who also claimed he had gang connections - clung to the fact she was adopted and also claimed he had been adopted as a child.

"I didn't want to have to be part of this, share my story with everyone - the public," she said.

"I'm embarrassed that I put myself in such a terrifying or dangerous position, that's the only thing that I'm embarrassed about."

"He had my arms pinned down ... It's not a pleasurable thing ... He would have seen me kicking," the woman said, as she again was asked to recall her date with the accused.

"After the struggling after holding me down, yes, I said 'I couldn't breathe'."

The woman said the accused "had both my arms".

However defence lawyer Ron Mansfield asked a series of questions: "Although he wanted you to stay the night he didn't stop you from leaving did he?

"You felt uncomfortable and you didn't like it?

"He got off you and then you told him you didn't like it?"

But the woman bit back.

"I was completely scared and fearful," she said.

"A person who can almost kill someone and suffocate them ... And then claim he has cancer to gain some sympathy ... he's a sociopath."

She said her experience was "nasty, it was terrifying".

"It was one of the worst days of my life," she told the court.

"I don't want to be here talking about it, I don't want to be reliving it."

One of the accused's lawyers, Ron Mansfield, has this morning continued to question the account of the witness from their November 2 date last year.

Yesterday, she told the court that after being suffocated by the alleged killer during oral sex he made an "almost accusing and quite cold" remark.

"I was gasping, I couldn't breathe properly and he just said to me, 'Oh what's wrong?'

"Almost accusing and quite cold he said, 'Oh you don't think I did that on purpose do you?'"

Mansfield asked: "When you first spoke to the police you put it slightly differently, didn't you?"

The woman agreed she hadn't initially talked to police about the accused's tone but during her testimony has told the court: "Just the way he said it ... it still gives me chills."

The court heard from the woman yesterday that after she matched with the alleged killer on Tinder - as Millane had - she agreed to meet the young man for a drink on November 2 last year.

However, instead of going to a downtown Auckland bar the pair went to the accused's apartment at the CityLife hotel - the same room where Millane died a month later.

"We'd been talking about, like, how much he loved me and wanted to be with me," the witness told the High Court at Auckland.

She told the young man: "We're not having sex."

However, the accused soon removed his pants and she began giving him oral sex, she said.

But, as the witness explained, she would soon be fearing for her life.

"He just sat down on my face," she said through tears. "I couldn't breathe."

The accused was also holding her down, the court heard.

"I couldn't move my arms, I couldn't breathe, so I started kicking - trying to indicate I couldn't breathe," she said.

"I couldn't breathe … I was terrified. He just sat there, he didn't move at all."

The then-university student said she finally managed to turn her head slightly and get a slither of air.

She then feigned unconsciousness, the court heard.

"'Cause then maybe he'd realise something was wrong.

"There were so many thoughts running through my mind ... This can't be the way I die ... I started thinking about my family and my friends. They can't read about this."

Finally the accused sat up, she said.

"I was gasping, I couldn't breath properly and he just said to me, 'Oh what's wrong?'

"Almost accusing and quite cold he said, 'Oh you don't think I did that on purpose do you?'"

After the incident, the witness said she never wanted to see the 27-year-old man again.

But her text message history led to a lengthy line of questioning under cross-examination by one of the accused's lawyers.

Ron Mansfield read some of the more than 700 messages between the woman and the alleged killer - some of which the well-known lawyer said appeared to show an interest in continuing a relationship.

The messages between the pair continued for several days because, the witness said, she "didn't want to make him angry".

But Mansfield continued and also produced messages from November 8 when the woman asked if the accused was on the social media channel SnapChat.

"Then I could send you pictures throughout the day so you know what I'm up to :)," she said in one message to the alleged killer.

"You think I don't want you but that is totally not true," another read.

The witness admitted she was "leading on" the accused, which included conveying the possibility of a romantic future, but said it was all a lie to instead keep the man at a distance.

Mansfield said: "Did you just want people to not think you were into a guy who was now charged with murder?"

As the courtroom clock moved past 5pm Mansfield said he still had 40 more minutes worth of questions for the witness.

"Oh my God, I'm not coming back!" she cried, burying her head in her hands.